Mealworm farming

[aart]

Reporting back on my pupae situation. I'm getting seriously creeped out here. I have a huge population of meal worms in the larvae stage, and they continue to grow to an inch and a quarter long and proportionally fat. Still zero, that's ZERO pupae! I sifted through the thousands of worms and could find just two desiccated husks of former pupae.

I conquered the grain mite infestation, so that is not an issue any longer. I've been very diligent about providing carrots for their water needs. The beetles are all doing well, having lots of sex, laying lots of eggs, and I'm getting normal hatches. Everyone seems apparently healthy.

Even the worms I gather into tiny cartons to keep in the run as treats are not developing any pupae. Those larvae also just keep growing to astounding size.

I'm stumped. I need some serious meal worm wranglers to chime in on this situation. Please! This is driving me bonkers!

Indeed, it's a conspiracy....GMO grains.....second generation mutation, allows life but not reproduction.
OR..... GMO mealworms, engineered to foil DIY meal worm farmers....that's it!
I jest.

But seriously......were these larvae produced from on going stock you've had a long time or newly purchased stock?
But some are pupating into viable beetles that are reproducing with good hatches?
Sorry, I have no clue really, not near enough experience here.

Wonder of @Gallo del Cielo is still around, hasn't posted in a year but maybe a bump will bring him back.
He has vast experience.

 

[azygous]

That's just it, aart, these meal worms are an uninterrupted colony I've had for years, all started from a small carton of 100 that I had bought for $8 to tempt a sick hen to eat. I've seen no pupae since August at least.

I wonder, though, if you might be onto something about the GMO. I've been using out of a 50lb bag of wheat bran, that isn't even called that. The bag just says "FEED". No other labeling. The feed store assured me it was wheat bran, although it's much finer than bran.

It could be the GMO wheat has caused an interruption in my meal worm colony's ability to continue it's life cycles, instead, growing to obscene proportions. It will be interesting to see how long the larvae survive before dying en mass. But it would seem GMOs would affect fertility, and it doesn't seem to.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try sending @Gallo del Cielo a PM.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Reporting back on my pupae situation. I'm getting seriously creeped out here. I have a huge population of meal worms in the larvae stage, and they continue to grow to an inch and a quarter long and proportionally fat. Still zero, that's ZERO pupae! I sifted through the thousands of worms and could find just two desiccated husks of former pupae.

I conquered the grain mite infestation, so that is not an issue any longer. I've been very diligent about providing carrots for their water needs. The beetles are all doing well, having lots of sex, laying lots of eggs, and I'm getting normal hatches. Everyone seems apparently healthy.

Even the worms I gather into tiny cartons to keep in the run as treats are not developing any pupae. Those larvae also just keep growing to astounding size.

I'm stumped. I need some serious meal worm wranglers to chime in on this situation. Please! This is driving me bonkers!

Wish I had that issue! My darn things are all beetles...

I know I need to do better maintenance since chicken math has been a little over whelming.

Now I need to do mealworm math!

 

[aart]

That's just it, aart, these meal worms are an uninterrupted colony I've had for years, all started from a small carton of 100 that I had bought for $8 to tempt a sick hen to eat. I've seen no pupae since August at least.

I wonder, though, if you might be onto something about the GMO. I've been using out of a 50lb bag of wheat bran, that isn't even called that. The bag just says "FEED". No other labeling. The feed store assured me it was wheat bran, although it's much finer than bran.

It could be the GMO wheat has caused an interruption in my meal worm colony's ability to continue it's life cycles, instead, growing to obscene proportions. It will be interesting to see how long the larvae survive before dying en mass. But it would seem GMOs would affect fertility, and it doesn't seem to.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try sending @Gallo del Cielo a PM.

The GMO thing was mostly jokingly tongue in cheek .....some is GMO'd with BT tho....so......

How long since these huge non-pupating larvae hatched (hard to know maybe, I know)?
Have any from the same hatch pupated?
Just some thoughts...

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:

That's just it, aart, these meal worms are an uninterrupted colony I've had for years, all started from a small carton of 100 that I had bought for $8 to tempt a sick hen to eat. I've seen no pupae since August at least.

I wonder, though, if you might be onto something about the GMO. I've been using out of a 50lb bag of wheat bran, that isn't even called that. The bag just says "FEED". No other labeling. The feed store assured me it was wheat bran, although it's much finer than bran.

It could be the GMO wheat has caused an interruption in my meal worm colony's ability to continue it's life cycles, instead, growing to obscene proportions. It will be interesting to see how long the larvae survive before dying en mass. But it would seem GMOs would affect fertility, and it doesn't seem to.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try sending @Gallo del Cielo a PM.

You brought me back.


So, something is disrupting metamorphosis. The unusual size suggests something in the feed is mimicking Juvenile Hormone. Some of the so called "super worms" grown commercially achieve their large size by feeding them JH analogues and those larvae typically never pupate or die in the pupal stage. I would try pulling out all of the mealworms and feeding them organic wheat bran, it's not that much more expensive and at least you'll find out if that is the cause.

 

[Kusanar]

My worms are doing pretty much the same thing, they are in the same mix of feed that the adults that laid them are in... I get to go sifting through them soon and switch containers with them, I managed to mold them... Funny how when I was actually misting them, they didn't mold, then when I was trying to keep the grain dry, it all molded on me... sigh... I'll have to sift them out and put the worms in clean feed.... time to blend more... lol

 

[azygous]

Thanks for coming back to answer this riddle! Since my big 50lb sack of wheat "feed" is the only variable that has changed recently, I had a hunch it might have something to do with this problem. But finding organic wheat bran is a fantasy where I live. Even the grocery stores within a twenty mile distance don't carry wheat bran at all, except for one out of the three stores. The feed stores don't carry bran at all except for this altered fake bran.

I will bit the bullet and buy some $5/16oz bags of Red Mill wheat bran and prepare some new bedding for the larvae. The beetles are in rolled oats, so that may explain why they're acting normally. I was even thinking of addling rolled oats to the fine wheat "feed", but I'll give them all new high priced bran and see what develops.

I may keep a tray of "controlled" larvae in the "feed" and see what happens. If they die without pupating and the larvae pupate once in new bedding, we will have a definitive answer. The store where I bought this "feed" is Big R and the employees don't know diddly about what they sell, so asking them what's in this stuff may be useless.

 

[aart]

Thanks for coming back to answer this riddle! Since my big 50lb sack of wheat "feed" is the only variable that has changed recently, I had a hunch it might have something to do with this problem. But finding organic wheat bran is a fantasy where I live. Even the grocery stores within a twenty mile distance don't carry wheat bran at all, except for one out of the three stores. The feed stores don't carry bran at all except for this altered fake bran.

I will bit the bullet and buy some $5/16oz bags of Red Mill wheat bran and prepare some new bedding for the larvae. The beetles are in rolled oats, so that may explain why they're acting normally. I was even thinking of addling rolled oats to the fine wheat "feed", but I'll give them all new high priced bran and see what develops.

I may keep a tray of "controlled" larvae in the "feed" and see what happens. If they die without pupating and the larvae pupate once in new bedding, we will have a definitive answer. The store where I bought this "feed" is Big R and the employees don't know diddly about what they sell, so asking them what's in this stuff may be useless.

Absolutely do!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Thanks for coming back to answer this riddle! Since my big 50lb sack of wheat "feed" is the only variable that has changed recently, I had a hunch it might have something to do with this problem. But finding organic wheat bran is a fantasy where I live. Even the grocery stores within a twenty mile distance don't carry wheat bran at all, except for one out of the three stores. The feed stores don't carry bran at all except for this altered fake bran.

I will bit the bullet and buy some $5/16oz bags of Red Mill wheat bran and prepare some new bedding for the larvae. The beetles are in rolled oats, so that may explain why they're acting normally. I was even thinking of addling rolled oats to the fine wheat "feed", but I'll give them all new high priced bran and see what develops.

I may keep a tray of "controlled" larvae in the "feed" and see what happens. If they die without pupating and the larvae pupate once in new bedding, we will have a definitive answer. The store where I bought this "feed" is Big R and the employees don't know diddly about what they sell, so asking them what's in this stuff may be useless.

The feed store often orders things for me that they don't carry, and usually at still a good price. Don't know if they can get organic, but maybe.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Would grinding up some of the oats in a blender work for what you're tryng to do with the worms? Instead of buying the expensive wheat bran?